The Middle-Eastern completion is the latest in what is expected to be a two-year business transfer of Merrill Lynch’s entire non-US and non Japan IWM business portfolio, which the Swiss banking group acquired in principle back in August 2012.
The employees, client relationships and the majority of the assets of the Middle Eastern businesses transferred in the first days of December 2013. The process is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2014.
In the Middle East, Julius Baer now has offices in Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Cairo, Dubai, Istanbul and Manama.
According to Julius Baer, so far the Merrill Lynch businesses located in Switzerland, Uruguay, Chile, Luxembourg, Monaco, Hong Kong, Singapore, UK, Spain and Panama have started the transfer process as well and are moving ahead as planned.
The integration phase, which was launched in February 2013, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2015, with the large majority of the assets under management planned to be transferred in 2013.
Rémy A Bersier, a member of the executive board of Julius Baer and head Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa, said that gaining new footholds in the Middle Eastern markets represented “an important step” for the bank. He added: “It will enable us to further expand our footprint in this key growth region.”
Julius Baer’s total client assets amounted to CHF341bn (€278.5bn, $382bn, £233bn) at the end of October 2013, with assets under management accounting for CHF249bn.
